this morning on "early today," playing it cool. both candidates downplay expectations ahead of the first presidential debate of t 2012 election. to the rescue. tense moments as an 84-year-old woman's car plunges in a main harbor. and flipping out. a powerful typhoon wreaks havoc on southern japan. this is "early today" for monday, october 1st, 2012. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello, and very good morning to you. i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with debate prep. president obama and his republican rival mitt romney are both getting ready for their

first face to face presidential debate in denver wednesday night. romney is holding a rally in the mile-high city today, while the president gears up in nevada. nbc's tracy potts joins us with washington from the latest. >> reporter: good morning, everyone. we get an interesting perspective on this from john mccain. he's debated both the president and mitt romney, and he says we will see two very strong well-prepared candidates and in his prediction, few surprises. the president's behind closed doors in nevada for the next two days preparing to face mitt romney in denver wednesday. >> he's a good debater. i'm just okay. but what i'm most concerned about is having a serious discussion about what we need to do to keep the country growing. >> reporter: both sides are downplaying expectations. a senior aide to the president says romney will be prepared, disciplined and aggressive. romney's debate partner calls

the president a tough debater. >> barack obama is going to be formidable and i think it will be a good debate, but i certainly would not underestimate what barack obama brings to it. >> reporter: john kerry's playing romney with the president. in a weekend memory, republicans urged kerry to press the president on libya and syria. in today's "wall street journal" romney calls president obama's foreign policy dangerous. romney's debate plan, clearly and concisely explain how he can fix the economy. >> i expect to be able to describe that in a way people will understand, and if they do, i get elected. >> reporter: his running mate paul ryan is already preparing for his own debate a week away. >> i really believe in the policies that we're providing, that we're pursuing. at the end of the day, i'm going to go in there and be me. >> reporter: the post debate rally is already in planning. romney and ryan will be in virginia. the president is staying in co-co. veronica? >> tracie, thank you.

nato forces in afghanistan say three international service members and their translator were killed in a suicide bombing in the eastern part of the country this morning. the attack comes on a grim milestone of the war in afghanistan on sunday with the death of the 2000th u.s. service member. relations between international forces and their afghan partners have been pushed to the breaking point by a surge of insider attacks by afghan allies. on this first monday in october the u.s. supreme court begins its new term today. the justices are expected to consider a number of controversial issues. nbc's francis coe has more. >> reporter: one case the court will hear involves the practice of considering race for college admissions. abigail fisher sued after she

was rejected by the university of texas at austin. >> there were people in my class with lower grades who weren't in the activities i was in who were being accepted. the only other difference between us was the color of our skin. >> reporter: defenders of the practice say students are better prepared by a more diverse school experience. >> the best way to get to racial diversity is to consider race in an individualized way that looks at the whole applicant. >> reporter: the defense of marriage act signed by president bill clinton is also facing numerous challenges. the law states that the federal government will only recognize traditional marriages, meaning no federal benefits even where same-sex marriage is legal. >> same-sex couples are denied hundreds of different rights and benefits that are provided to married different-sex couples under federal law. >> reporter: on the document as well, whether to curtail parts of the historic voting rights act of 1965. it mandates federal oversight for states with a history of

voting discrimination when changing any rules for elections. challengers say the law is outdated and unnecessary. a big lineup of cases that could change the landscape of civil rights in america. francis coe, nbc news. here is a look at other stories making news early today in america. in maine a group of strangers spring into action when an elderly woman drove her car into the portland harbor. the ban of good samaritans pulled the 84-year-old out of her car moments before it sank. the woman is in stable condition. some of the rescuers had to be treated for hypothermia. karma geddon two has come to an end just for the end of the rush hour. the demolition job that shut down the 405 freeway hit a snag when the column collapsed. despite the hurdle, work crews completed a major component of the four-year expansion project. in kentucky, a test of strength was on display.

34 teams of 20 people battled to see who could pull a 757 cargo plan 12 feet in the fastest time. the competitors showed the money as well as some muscle. all of the teams raised a thousand dollars for the special olympics. all for a good cause. finally, hawaiians continued their love affair with spam hundreds gathered to build the world's largest mosubi. the 628-pound hawaiian snack was made with loads of rice, lots of seaweed, and of course, all of that spam. the event also featured a contest where the winner downed seven of them in three minutes. it doesn't look that easy. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is nbc meteorologist bill karins with the forecast. you could do that in seven minutes, right? >> big chunks of spam and rice. maybe if i had some wasabi

sauce. the weather pattern in the west, you might as well keep the long shirts and pants and jackets in the closet for another week or so. we're still going to be looking at very warm start to our october here. a very hot period here. it looks like about two days of heat in the interior sections of california where we could be dealing with record-high temperatures, all because of the jet stream, big dip all the way up into canada and the high pressure sitting over the west coast. yesterday, it was once again in the hundreds in phoenix. this little shade of pink in here. it was 93 in downtown l.a., 97 in vegas. even san francisco was very warm around san francisco and napa, all the way back to sacramento this weekend. it will be warm again today. not really a cloud in site here. this big huge area of high pressure overhead, plenty of sunshine. some areas where the mountain terrain was just right. we should see near record highs today. l.a., 101, one of the hottest days we've seen this year on october around the century

mark. in yuma, that's like mid summer heat, 108. it looks like the month of august, predictions are for a pretty warm october all through the west. >> crazy. 101 in l.a.? >> they need rain. the northwest had one of the driest septembers ever. >> i'll take the sunshine any day. i know they need it. a new quarter begins, pump prices fall. bonnie and clyde's guns go for anything but a steal. your early morning business headlines straight ahead. plus, baby, baby, baby, an unbelievable incident at the beginning of justin bieber's believe tour. you're watching "early today."

a very good morning to you. welcome back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz. here are some of your top headlines this morning. at least 26 people were killed in coordinated bombings across iraq yesterday. that brought the iraqi death toll in the month of september to nearly 200. iran's official news agency was taken in by the satire of the onion and ran their phony news story as if it were a real news item. the agency apologized for mistakenly running the satirical article that claimed that a gallup poll found that whites in rural america prefer iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad to president obama. an iranian cameraman who went to the united nations in new york with president ahmadinejad has defected. he is seeking asylum in the united states. japan was hit by a typhoon, which was strong enough to overturn vehicles on the island of okinawa. more than 140 people were injured and tens of thousands lost electrical power.

here is something to wet your whistle. a "usa today" study of 100 locations over the last ten years show water prices have doubled in a quarter of the cities and towns and even tripled due in part to repairs to a crumbling infrastructure. here is an early look at wow howe wall street will kick off the day. the dow closed at 13,437 after falling 38 points, the s&p lost six and the nasdaq down 20. taking a look at overseas trading, in tokyo the nikkei dropped 73 points while in hong kong the hang seng was closed for a holiday. as a new quarter begins and presidential candidates prepare to square off, economic data will be of particular interest to wall street and main street this week. the september employment report comes out friday but will be high on the agenda all week. ben bernanke will also get a lot of attention when minutes from the latest policy meeting are

released. september auto sales are also on tap. experts predict sales are up nearly 11% over last year. meanwhile, according to aaa, the price of regular gas is down about five cents in the past week to an average $3.81 a gallon. overseas this morning, uncertainty about spain's bailout weighed down asian stocks. thousands filled spain's capital this weekend to protest sweeping budget cuts and austerity measures included in a 2013 draft budget. elsewhere, on the heels of apple's flawed debut of the flawed map app, oracle customers will have access to nokia's data and location services. hewlett packard is set to roll out a new device that will work with microsoft's new windows 8 operating system. the elite pad 900 comes at a time when, according to new research from the pew center, half of all adult americans now own either a tablet computer or a smart phone.

and finally, who says that crime doesn't pay? two guns that belonged to famed partners in crime bonnie and clyde sold to an anonymous buyer for just over half a million dollars at an auction over the weekend. a quarterback makes history, and nfl teams break out a bag of tricks. plus, a colossal collapse at golf's ryder cup championship. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. and all the heavy rain over the weekend and this morning in the southeast is on the move. i'll tell you where it's heading coming up. you're watching "early today."

well, good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, the europeans played their hearts out yesterday, overcoming a 10-6 deficit to match the greatest comeback in ryder cup history. the europeans started out fast and held the u.s. to just 3 1/2 points all day. square mr. jim garcia, jim furyk misses a putt and garcia wins one up, marking a point at which europe came all the way back to take a 13-12 lead. 18th hole, martin kaymer wins the putt to give europe the point they needed to win the ryder cup. packers leading by seven,

the saints drew brees connects with a 20-yard strike to marques colston, tying the nfl's all-time mark set by the great johnny unitas. behind in the fourth, the saints had a shot to take the lead, but missed a 48-yard field goal with two and a half minutes to play. green bay won it 28-27. new orleans is 0-4. some trickery in the nfl yesterday. a fake field goal turned into a two-yard touchdown pass to danny amendola, putting the rams ahead of the seahawks late in the first quarter. they would go on to win 19-13. in cincinnati, trailing 7-3 on fourth down, the bengals used a direct snap to running back cedric peerman on a fake punt for a 48-yard gain. they would score on a one-yard pass a few plays later. and the bengals beat the jaguars 27-10. dracula scares up big bucks at the box office. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, from bullied to

breathtaking. a michigan high school teen has her moment to shine. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today" on this october 1st morning. another very warm start to the day. we'll yield a summer-like finish in many areas. near record highs, in many air cass of southern california, the

highlight being in los angeles. all of interior california, you'll be blasting the ac today. as we look at tomorrow, we will cool off as the wind direction shift as little bit. still a very warm day with well above average temperatures. it won't be until midweek that we cool back to normal. if you're watching us on kntv nbc news in california, examine animal specimens collected from the island of madagascar at the kim ball natural history museum. that's your pacific event of the day. i would love to go to galapagos. >> you said october 1st? >> that's true. >> where does the time go? >> time to make thanksgiving day plans. here's a look at our headlines in entertainment news. halloween came early as monsters ruled the box office. "hotel transylvania" took in $43 million, the highest september opening weekend of all time. "looper" snagged the number two

spot with an impressive $21.2 million. in other news, arnold schwarzenegger tells "60 minutes" he cheated on wife maria shriver multiple times, including an affair with actress brigitte nielsen while the couple were dating. they divorced last year following revelation that is he fathered a child with their long-time housekeeper. lindsay lohan is claiming a 25-year-old man who she reportedly met at a nightclub grabbed her in her new york hotel room in an argument over cell phone photos he took of her. police arrested the man on assault charges but later voided the arrest when they couldn't be substantiated. >> lindsay is okay, though. i checked. >> did you need her to call you? i can't remember. finally justin bieber had a concert foul in arizona when he bent over mid song and then he bar fd. >> he continued the concert and

later tweeted milk was a bad choice, lol. >> a teen had the last laugh at the expense of her bullies. whitney croft had thoughts of suicide after learning her nomination for homecoming was a prank. the crowd showered the sophomore with cheers when she showed up for the homecoming game. she was happy she stood up to her tormenters. good for her. i'm veronica de la cruz, this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

nbc station. in mexico, it was a big to-do over tiny turtles. over 600 school children helped mexican navy personnel launch 4,000 hatchlings into the oh, my gosh. despite laws prohibiting their sale, the eggs are a mexican diet staple and are often sold in markets. in china, one little boy is showcasing some pretty big strength. he might not be so big after all, or little. the 7-year-old weighs 112 pounds and showcases strength by carrying a 90-pound bag on his shoulders. he piggybacks his 200-pound father. aspiring to be a weight lifter,

the boy even pulled a 2500 pound car with five passengers inside. oh, my goodness. the infamous dancing inmates in the philippines are back at it again. this time about 1,000 prisoners decided to go at it gangnam style after tackling songs like thriller and the hustle. the inmates decided to recreate a more current hit. you've heard this one, right? "gangnam." the prisoners showed off their best rodeo style moves. they perform for the public about once a month. i'll give you 20 bucks if you teach me that dance. >> someone has to teach it to me first. it doesn't look easy. >> david gregory has perfected that move. time for an early look at the stories we'll follow throughout the day on nbc. as of today, medicare will begin finding hospitals where it deems too many patients have been readmitted within 30 days of discharge. according to estimates and two-thirds of facilities serving medicare patients will be hit with penalties of around $125,000 this year.

it is the first day of october which marks the start of national breast cancer awareness month. the annual campaign is a collaboration of public service organizations, professional medical groups and government agencies to increase awareness of the disease. happy birthday to actress julie andrews who turns 77 today. happy birthday. all day long you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. tonight be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." finally, here is a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. hear from the high school sophomore who was the target of a homecoming prank but with the help of her community is now giving hope to kids who are bullied. the former ms. idaho will be live in the studio to share her story of survival after a near fatal fishing accident.